The Dean's Answer (a Rebus By Vanessa) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIJKK EELLMMNN| The nymph who wrote this in an amorous fit | A |
| I cannot but envy the pride of her wit | A |
| Which thus she will venture profusely to throw | B |
| On so mean a design and a subject so low | B |
| For mean's her design and her subject as mean | C |
| The first but a rebus the last but a dean | C |
| A dean's but a parson and what is a rebus | D |
| A thing never known to the Muses or Phoebus | D |
| The corruption of verse for when all is done | E |
| It is but a paraphrase made on a pun | E |
| But a genius like hers no subject can stifle | F |
| It shows and discovers itself through a trifle | F |
| By reading this trifle I quickly began | G |
| To find her a great wit but the dean a small man | G |
| Rich ladies will furnish their garrets with stuff | H |
| Which others for mantuas would think fine enough | H |
| So the wit that is lavishly thrown away here | I |
| Might furnish a second rate poet a year | J |
| Thus much for the verse we proceed to the next | K |
| Where the nymph has entirely forsaken her text | K |
| Her fine panegyrics are quite out of season | E |
| And what she describes to be merit is treason | E |
| The changes which faction has made in the state | L |
| Have put the dean's politics quite out of date | L |
| Now no one regards what he utters with freedom | M |
| And should he write pamphlets no great man would read 'em | M |
| And should want or desert stand in need of his aid | N |
| This racer would prove but a dull founder'd jade | N |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
<< Stella's Birth-day March 13, 1718-19 Poem
Answer To Dr. Delany's Fable Of The Pheasant And Lark. Poem>>
About The Dean's Answer (a Rebus By Vanessa)
The Dean's Answer (a Rebus By Vanessa) is a poem by Jonathan Swift. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Dean's Answer (a Rebus By Vanessa) poem by Jonathan Swift
Best Poems of Jonathan Swift